One thing the lockdown has done is to force me outside.... and a couple of things have happened, firstly I ran out of weedkiller concentrate (and trying to keep clover off a gravel patio by pulling it out is a fool's errand) and I ran out of lawn treatment. So I checked to see what prices were being quoted....

My weedkiller concentrate is no longer available, but I saw one from Doff that looked similar. £12.00 from ebay for a litre. On amazon it was £9.71 but OOS, though an alternative supplier had it for £10.65. I thought I'd check local prices first. The lawn treatment was £23.07 on Amazon.

Today I did my weekly shop (probably 3 times the cars about today as last week!). I checked at Tesco, but their offering seemed less than useful.... then. on my way to Aldi I passed Home Bargains, so I thought I'd take a look. Good thing I did - the same weedkiller was on display, but unpriced. So I picked one and a few other things and went to the checkout..... overall cost, just over £10. I checked the receipt - the weedkiller (cheapest price seen £9.71) was £4.95!! I decided to loop back and buy another.... and as I did so, I passed a stand with lawn treatment... the one I wanted - at £9.99!! So, in one shop, I got 2 litres of the weedkiller and the lawn treatment for less than the cost of the lawn treatment alone.... and something like £23 off the whole lot.

I could get a bog off and end up not using the 2nd item and I cannot freeze it so have to chuck it away so no money saved but the environment is the loser.

I see something is on offer so stock up. Then realise none of us like it so it just sits in the cupboard.

Something we love is on offer so we stock up and end up eating far more of it than usual.

A blouse is a great bargain in the sale so I buy it. But it does not go with anything else I own or it is a very dressy thing meant for the most formal of occasions. But I do not end up going to anything that formal so the blouse is left at the back of the wardrobe.

So I could have ended up spending money on "bargains" that cost me money rather than saving money

Keep smiling because the light at the end of someone's tunnel may be you, Ron Cheneler

I could get a bog off and end up not using the 2nd item and I cannot freeze it so have to chuck it away so no money saved but the environment is the loser.

I see something is on offer so stock up. Then realise none of us like it so it just sits in the cupboard.

Something we love is on offer so we stock up and end up eating far more of it than usual.

A blouse is a great bargain in the sale so I buy it. But it does not go with anything else I own or it is a very dressy thing meant for the most formal of occasions. But I do not end up going to anything that formal so the blouse is left at the back of the wardrobe.

So I could have ended up spending money on "bargains" that cost me money rather than saving money

Ummm, this post was specifically about buying things I need, locally. What has that got to do with reflex buying or poor decisions? I saved over 50% of the online price by buying locally - even in a fairly rural area at a time when few shops are open. The online prices I quoted were for delivered items... it was possible to find cheaper product prices online, but they all ended up more expensive once P&P was added.... and none of them was as cheap as the price I paid locally.... for example, I found the weekiller at £6.70 plus P&P £4.95...... but as the price I paid was about the same as the postage asked, it still represented a major saving.

Burning off weeds just kills the tops - the roots remain and just regrow.... quickly. It's fast, if you hon't mind repeating the process forever. Normally, I prefer to physically remover weeds - but some will regenerate from any part left behind (nettles, brambles, etc.) and others, like clover, have such fine roots that it's almost impossible to physically remove.

I could get a bog off and end up not using the 2nd item and I cannot freeze it so have to chuck it away so no money saved but the environment is the loser.

I see something is on offer so stock up. Then realise none of us like it so it just sits in the cupboard.

Something we love is on offer so we stock up and end up eating far more of it than usual.

A blouse is a great bargain in the sale so I buy it. But it does not go with anything else I own or it is a very dressy thing meant for the most formal of occasions. But I do not end up going to anything that formal so the blouse is left at the back of the wardrobe.

So I could have ended up spending money on "bargains" that cost me money rather than saving money

Your examples are not 'a penny saved'. You've just spent money on stuff you didn't need (who buys food they don't like, just because it's on offer?!!). Quite different, and off topic.

Ummm, this post was specifically about buying things I need, locally. What has that got to do with reflex buying or poor decisions? I saved over 50% of the online price by buying locally - even in a fairly rural area at a time when few shops are open. The online prices I quoted were for delivered items... it was possible to find cheaper product prices online, but they all ended up more expensive once P&P was added.... and none of them was as cheap as the price I paid locally.... for example, I found the weekiller at £6.70 plus P&P £4.95...... but as the price I paid was about the same as the postage asked, it still represented a major saving.

I've discovered a farm shop near us that has a good range of seasonal fruit and veg. It's so much less stressful than shopping at Tesco and I get to feel good about buying locally too. Careful food planning means I now go to the supermarket only once a fortnight, and I'll try to continue that when All This Is Over (the new term for the future).

Ummm, this post was specifically about buying things I need, locally. What has that got to do with reflex buying or poor decisions? I saved over 50% of the online price by buying locally - even in a fairly rural area at a time when few shops are open. The online prices I quoted were for delivered items... it was possible to find cheaper product prices online, but they all ended up more expensive once P&P was added.... and none of them was as cheap as the price I paid locally.... for example, I found the weekiller at £6.70 plus P&P £4.95...... but as the price I paid was about the same as the postage asked, it still represented a major saving.

I've discovered a farm shop near us that has a good range of seasonal fruit and veg. It's so much less stressful than shopping at Tesco and I get to feel good about buying locally too. Careful food planning means I now go to the supermarket only once a fortnight, and I'll try to continue that when All This Is Over (the new term for the future).

Good, I hope they continue to provide you with what you need. When we first moved to Suffolk, we bought almost everything locally - local butchers, fish from the coast, farm shops, farmers market and the local market. For SWMBO, buting from local markets was natural. Then, little by little, things changed. The market actively imposed a "one vendor per type of produce" rule and stifled competition, the quality became less dependable and the price differential increased (in tandem with the percentage of London accents). The fishermen started pre-selling to local hotels leaving only the "leftovers" for the public, the farmers market had "farmers" from Lincolnshire and Battersea(!), the butchers closed or were taken over by chains. So now we end up buying for quality, but not necessarily "locally" as the latter now usually means more expensive without any other benefit. That's the benefit of gentrification.....